Emerging standards for providing mobile broadcast digital television services compatible with portable wireless devices such as cell phones and personal digital assistants include Digital Video Broadcast-Handheld (DVB-H), Integrated Services Digital Broadcast-Terrestrial (ISDB-T), Digital Multimedia Broadcast (DMB), and Forward Link Only (FLO). As content becomes more widely available via one or more of these standards, and compatible portable wireless devices proliferate, the ways in which individual consumers interact with their portable wireless devices and access digital TV (DTV) will change. It is expected that consumers will look for increased compatibility and convergence between the way they access DTV at home and the ways they access DTV when using a portable wireless device.
A large market exists for digital video recorders (DVR's) that enable a user to conveniently “time shift” video content. The “time shift” is enabled by recording content transmitted by a content provider so that it may be replayed at a time more convenient to the user. The broadcast schedules and related information (“TV programming information”) of various broadcasters are aggregated by providers of TV programming information, such as TV Guide, and made accessible to the user via the user's television and/or DVR as well as over the Internet and by conventional printed means. Armed with such TV programming information, a user is enabled to program the user's DVR to record broadcasts days or weeks ahead of the scheduled broadcast. As is well known in the art, a DVR is commonly configured as a set-top box and associated with a user's home installation which may include, for example, a television, cable/satellite interface box, and DVD player and/or VCR.
While DVRs provide consumers with the ability to time shift broadcast video content for home viewing, this capability is insufficient for content having reduced value to the consumer if not available for viewing near the time that the program or event occurs. As illustrated by the following examples, there are a variety of scenarios that would delay someone's ability to timely watch a program or event that loses value if not timely watched.
Scenario 1. “Road Warrior”. A considerable fraction of broadcast TV loses entertainment value when “suspense” is gone. For many viewers, it is not satisfactory to watch, e.g., a televised sports event or a reality TV show, the next day (when the outcome will inevitably be widely published and discussed). Traveling businesspeople, those who work late, and those who fly during programming and event broadcast times are examples of people who lose the ability to view programming and events that have suspense value when timely watched.
Scenario 2. “Commuters”. For many urban commuter passengers, televised content of, for example, sporting events, political debates and newscasts, occur partially during commute times. A passenger on a 5:15 train wishing to watch a political debate or sports event that starts at 5:00 pm may feel less interested if he or she missed the opening minutes of play, or other preceding moments of the broadcast.
Scenario 3. “Vacationers”. Family members traveling on vacation may still wish to stay current with their favorite television shows. For them, a problem arises because these shows may be broadcast during times devoted to travel and sightseeing.